Reflections (part 1)

This has been a year of a lot of changes for me.  I'm starting the process for myself of looking at then-and-now scenarios - what my life was like a year ago, and what it's like now.  While there have been a handful of difficult events (or bad changes), most of the changes have been good.  At least they have been productive.

For example, I finally redid my bedroom!  It was an important part of my "process", of dealing with the divorce - finding who I am as an adult-single-person.

Here's the before - 5 shots to try to give you a 360 view of the room:

Some things I want to point out - I haven't had a "real bed" since I graduated from high school.  When we got married, we had a futon on a futon frame (because that's what we could afford) and dressers and bedside tables that were given to us.  We were never able to afford to have a grown-up room.  We replaced the futon mattress in 2002, and some time in 2007 we got rid of the futon frame.  So my mattress and box spring were on the floor for almost 6 years.  This room was depressing, and bland, and didn't reflect my personality at all.

First change: color!

Next change - finding a home for my yarn so I could move my clothes back in the real closet:

(Or moving my clothes back in the real closet so I could make a home for my yarn)

This took math, but I was thrilled to find out that my reach-in closet is actually deep enough that I can walk in.  And house laundry.  And use hanging sweater-shelf things.

Then - a bed!!

This is sort of a sleigh bed - it has an angled headboard so I can lean against it.  And I love the "waves" carved in it.

Some white curtains to cover the closet, new bedding and totally unnecessary pillows!

 I'm not totally done:

I found this great corner chair that goes so nicely with the paint color, and makes me very happy to sit in!  I still need a lamp and a footstool to make this a cozy reading/stitching corner.

Obviously, I still need some artwork, as well.  I did find a clock at Hobby Lobby that has the aqua color I love.  And with the photo session I just had with my girls, I'll have some fresh photos to put up, too.  I really want a large kind of canvas looking piece (or group of pieces) over the bed that will bring in more of the aqua and browns and make it feel more complete.  But as it is right now, this is a restful space.  The girls and I curl up on the bed to have "important" talks.  And even better:

Annie can see out the window without standing on her hind legs

Redecorating with a purpose!

So in August we did some redecorating in our living room (again) and downstairs.  The last time I redid the living room was for Christmas, 2010, and I put my desk in the corner of the room near the sliding glass door.  This was great when my work was occasional and the kids were at school.  But as my business picked up during the summer, I discovered how difficult it was to concentrate with the work space in the main part of the house.  Also, we got a piano, and there just wasn't enough room for all that big furniture in that part of the room!

This is in progress, the filing cabinet was pulled out of the corner first.  You can kind of see the top of the piano behind the filing cabinet.

Unfortunately, moving the desk means losing my "finishing" space.  This was a lot of cleaning up, most of the things in this space had been in place for about 2 years, when we moved in!

Worth it! This is the first day of school pic.  We still need to get the piano tuned and have the key cover put back on - because free is never really free!  But I love having my 1910 Warner - I'm excited to get the girls piano lessons!

Here's how my workspace looks now - I've upgraded to a laptop, so you can see the "void" where it lives normally. On sunny days the light in this space is so great, I hardly ever use my desk lamp!

And because we don't have a fireplace in the living room, we used the piano for the stockings.  Love the way this looks!  Will love it even more when the cover is on the keys!

New routines and a Before and After

Wow, so adjusting to DH being with us full time has thrown off my normal schedule more than it ever did when he would come home on visits!  Y'all, I don't think I've crossed a single x since my last post.  And that was only boring yellow border on BoInk.  I don't think I realized how much I used stitching to keep my mind off of him being gone.  I mean, intellectually, I knew that's what I was doing, but I didn't realize how much I relied on it.  There were days when I would stitch about 6 hours.  Plus housework and kid-stuff and church stuff...

So now that he's home, and I'm settling into a new routine, and trying to remember to take my anti-depressant, and trying to figure out what to do with 2 kids at home all day, and thinking about looking for part-time work...I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  I've been reading a lot, and doing a little bit of crochet.  But none of my WIPs have made their way into my fingers.

I did accomplish something pretty amazing this last week - I turned this:

(downstairs closet - I know it's hard to see, that's kind of the point)

into this:

Yay me!  I can finally see all my fabric for sewing clothing and for finishing.  I can see how much yarn I need have.  I can get to my wrapping papers without digging through coats!  The ironing board needs to find a new home, and I still have a bunch of "organizing clutter" on my finishing table.  But I think I'll be able to get back to sewing things during the days on Monday.  And that makes me very happy.  Because my children need summer clothes, and I have piles of fabric and patterns to accomplish that feat.